Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder, instructed his advisers to sell his personal investments in Elon Musk’s companies in recent months after learning that he had a brief affair with his wife.
Musk denied the report, calling it “third-party random hearsay” and “sub-tabloid” immediately after its publication.
Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated fortune of $240 billion, while Brin is ranked eighth worldwide, with a $95 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
According to reports, Musk, the co-founder of Tesla, had an alleged liaison in early December in Miami with Nicole Shanahan citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
This cause ended the long friendship between Musk, 51, and Brin, who helped support the electric carmaker during the 2008 financial crisis. Brin, 48, filed for divorce from Shanahan in January citing “irreconcilable differences”.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the affair allegedly prompted Brin’s divorce from Nicole Shanahan in January.
According to court filings, the two cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split and the filings were submitted just weeks after Brin learned of the affair, according to the Journal.
Tensions between the two men and their teams have been growing over recent months, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.
Musk has been in the spotlight recently, following a string of personal and business issues. He has faced manufacturing problems with his Tesla company and a court battle over his wish to back out from a $44bn bid for the social media site Twitter.
Musk’s private life has also been scrutinized over the previous few months. He has been accused of exposing himself to a flight attendant at his aerospace company SpaceX – although he has denied the allegations.
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